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Ideas what to do all day with non talking ds3 (20mo)??

9 replies

crazy88 · 09/09/2013 14:49

Help please! Ds2 has just started school and I don't know what to do with ds3 all day! He doesn't talk at all, despite my others being early talkers, and he is pretty hard going at the moment as I think he is frustrated by that. I don't like taking him to toddler groups as he has a tendency to be aggressive and snatch things and I would rather do without the stress! We do swimming once a week and I take him to the beach and the park but I don't know what to do with him in the house! He doesn't like puzzles or drawing and without any language it's hard to play cars or trains. He likes books so we have done lots of reading, but I can't take him to the library as he just pulls all the books off the shelves and runs off! I know I should be more on the ball but he is just so different from my other sons and I am at a bit of a loss! I want to try to enjoy this time with just the two of us, which I didn't really have with my others, but at the moment it just feels like he is bored/cross/unhappy all the time Sad

Any ideas?

OP posts:
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JiltedJohnsJulie · 09/09/2013 14:54

My dd wasn't talking much at that age too, hard isn't it. Have you spoken to your HV? Sometimes the HV can refer you to groups for delayed speech. Have you thought of doing a self referral to Speech and Language therapy too?

Do you think teaching him some signs might help?

What do you do if he is aggressive with other children?

JiltedJohnsJulie · 09/09/2013 15:06

Does he like playing in the sink with water, baking or banging your saucepans with a wooden spoon? Does he like nursery rhymes?

smearedinfood · 09/09/2013 15:13

He'll just follow you around the house all day "helping". He'll probably start talking in the next few months, it's quite ok at 20 months to not be so verbal.

AFishWithoutABicycle · 09/09/2013 15:22

Get him a puppy. That'll give you stuff to do.
I take my dd to soft play. Early in the morning there isn't as many others and so you can probably avoid too much agro. You coukd get him a micro scooter (with a seat) and take him to the park.
You could get a tunnel and slide and set them in a bedroom for when it rains.
Lentils spoons and cups always go down well here.
Daytime long bath with cups etc.
you could just take him to toddler groups. That's what there for, so they can learn.

elQuintoConyo · 09/09/2013 15:48

I also have non-speaking 21mo. Well, he has got about thirty vocab words but no sentences, not even two-word sentences. Not stressin about it, it'll come when he is ready.

So, activities... We don't have any toddler groups near us. DS has a plastic motorbike, he uses that to scoot to the park round the corner, or round the neighbourhood very quiet during the day, and one-way system).

We're lucky enough to live near a beach, so we go there every couple of days. Also the nearest playground has a sandpit.

At home we play with megablocks (running through colours etc), and cars, oh how he loves his cars! He lines them up, they jump over each other, he 'beeps' when he reverses them, he tries identifying colours, big, small etc. We make tunnels and arches with the megablocks.
We do some colouring/crayon time everyday, just A4 paper and scribbling.
He stands on a chair in the kitchen and plays with tupperware/silicon bakeware while I chop veg, or plays with water and bubbles while I'm washing up (stack towels on the floor!).
We lay on our big bed and play 'tickles' (tiled floor throughout house so we can't play rough and tumble on living room carpet!).
We have times set asude for noisy play - drum, xylophone, fisherprice piano-thing.
We put the radio on and dance.
We read/play with books.
He helps me sew by playing with little bits of ribbon and ricrac and strips of fabric.

We go to town on the bus and have a run around some pedestrian areas and squares.

TV is limited to Pocoyo twice a day for about 5 minutes.

We play dressup: my shoes, DH's jumper, hat, my handbag etc.

Anything and everything to entertain him!

greencybermummy · 09/09/2013 21:47

of course you can play cars or trains - you talk and give him examples of the language you would like him to learn e.g. 'car', 'fast car' or 'train'. Tell him names for things and actions so that he can hear them in the right context. Do 'ready, steady, go' with cars or trains and when he gets the idea leave off the 'go' and see if he will fill in the gap with a sound. He is too young for a referral to SLT in my opinion. Play, sing and talk to him for a few months and let us know how you both get on Smile

crazy88 · 09/09/2013 22:33

Thanks everyone. I will definitely try some of these. The speech thing is an issue but tbh I think I would still be a bit lost even if he was talking, I honestly can't remember what I did all day with the other two! I should let him do stuff in the kitchen more, probably the reason I haven't is that he throws things a lot Blush

JJJ - he frequently hits his brothers, often with cars/remote control etc, entirely unprovoked and seems basically unmoved by disapproval - tried sending him out of the room but he just toddles off around the house and I have to follow him in case he damages something/himself so that kind of backfired.... Grin

Fairly sure I have some mega blocks somewhere so will dig those out tomorrow. Smile

OP posts:
specialmagiclady · 09/09/2013 23:04

Try the lentils and pouring dried pulses thing - my boys loved that and it's lovely sensory stuff too.

elQuintoConyo · 09/09/2013 23:09

Custard bath: make some custard (1-2 packets), divide it into three or four batches and put different food colour in them. Put dc in the bath, let him play, mix, eat! Then simply wash him and the bath down - great fun!

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